Aramintai

The fact that people engage and discuss this so much means that writers did a good job, especially in character portrayal. It started slow, but characters relationship development really ramped up in the later half of the drama. People sympathize with both leads, hate the bloody emperor and the villain. It’s fun.

It looks like the dynasty is nearing its fall here. One of the key reasons why it fell was because they had corrupt officials like the villain, who held too much power and instigated unrest for their own gain.

I love her portrayal of this character. Some people come here saying it's bad/stiff/cold and start comparing her to her other unrelated roles, without paying attention to this character's backstory at all, it seems. She's a very calculating and smart martial arts pro, who's not afraid to die for what she believes in. Her body language is refined and collected like a princess would have, but also has that military training aura. She also has bouts of bad temper and likes to brood in silence, it always takes time and patience from ML to reason with her after these.
She's also very jaded and sarcastic and it's a delight to see her rare comedic playful moments when she's with friends.
So it's not bad acting, even haters are saying she's a good actress, it's very deliberate character portrayal.

He did accept it, the guy was punished for it with a slap on the wrist, because the emperor's influence over court is that weak.

It's not that he didn't accept her testimony. It's that he couldn't enforce a proper punishment for the guy, because he's afraid it would turn other nobles and officials against him and make his ass deposed. I'm waiting for FL father's honor restored. If the emperor won't even do that, then fk him for real.

People lose logic and reason when it comes to love, I guess. She agreed to marry him, but used it to plot a bloody massacre at the banquet. So anybody'd immediately have doubts as to why she even agreed to the wedding in the first place. He also knows she's hellbent on revenge, it's been paramount in her life. So he's very unsure of her feelings. Throw in a few more hurtful lies and there's no reason not to believe she's used him and has no place for love in her heart.

Fingers crossed.

If you noticed, he always lets her vent and waits for her to cool down. She's very stubborn and was very angry there as well, nothing he would have said there would have changed her mind, especially since she already had in mind to push him away. But he said everything there is to be said, the guy's a genuine crystal clear gem, if a bit naive.

Yea, that's why I'm hoping she's not the villain. It would make her an absolute nutjob and there's no indication whatsoever that she is so far.

He really didn't get over the nightmares, but he copes just like FL. Anyway, it's still different. The problem is, and it's realistic, he loves FL and really doesn't want to lose her, but her can't read her at all it seems and is unsure of her feelings. He's afraid and that's why he believed her lies, I guess. Hopefully he realizes it was bs.
But FL really needs to figure out what she wants - is it revenge and death all the way, or life with ML. It looks like she's very undecided judging by how she reacted after ML left in tears. It hurt her too to lie to him.

Well, the novel's villain being the crown prince would have made even more sense, I guess. Can't have the heir and son to be executed, now can we?

It would have been proper only if the drama ended on that note, likely with FL dying. But we still have 5 more episodes to get a semblance of a happy ending, instead of ending on dark revenge.

We don't really know how mentally strong he is, he never witnessed a close person's death and never been in love before. Investigating cases isn't the same.
He's been shown acting decisively and maturely when it mattered, but this here problem is of another caliber.

And then you'd go down to prison to be executed and your family's honor wouldn't be restored. A waste of life for immediate gratification.
Thankfully there are people in FL's life who stopped her from making that mistake.

He's a weak ruler afraid of being deposed, that's his evil.

There's no crown prince character in this drama, and I think it's too late to introduce him now. He's been mentioned here only.
As for the synopsis - it could have been copied from the novel. Which the drama may not follow to a T. Also, there are tons of other concubines in the palace - it can be some other concubine. We have five more episodes. But again, it'd be kinda a lame to introduce a new character at this point.
As for the emperor's behavior towards consort Shu - she's the villain's sister, so he distanced himself from her after hearing the news and even imprisoned her to that cold palace or whatever to atone. It was common practice for relatives to go down with the criminal back then.

I guess the guy's really sensitive and fell really hard, lol. What I find more funny though is how he thinks he's so clever, but can't figure out FL's moves or that she's lying to him. She's plotting something again and pushed him away on purpose, let's see how they gonna reconcile next. I guess it's time for that mandatory period in every drama - the break up period, lmao.

Me too, and it's not because I like her character, which I do, but it would also make FL look like an idiot - she's very sharp when it comes to reading people. Flawlessly pretending to be a kind and doting mother for years before everybody and then suddenly turning 180 would be nuts. But I wouldn't rule it out, I guess. We've seen plently of ambitious concubines in this drama.

Looks like you really don't like FL's character and are inventing things to bitch about. But that's fine, there are plenty of other dramas out there with traditional male female roles.

Is it consort Shu like some people believe here? Or somebody else?
I think I've seen mention about Wu Zetian equivalent in the novel. Though consort Shu's character kinda doesn't fit a conniving tyrant, unless of course she's a well mimicing total psycho.